Running a highly available, ad-blocking, private DNS setup in Kubernetes

DNS is the most critical service that runs on small, client-focused networks. Hosting your own DNS unlocks interesting possibilities: Lower latencies, caching, DHCP hostname integration, and ad and malware blocking just to name a few. However, it also comes with great responsibility: For clients, if DNS is down, the internet is down.

In this session we will explore how we can have all those delightful features while maintaining resiliency and zero-downtime upgrades, using Kubernetes as a platform. We will cover well-established, open source projects such as dnsmasq and dnscrypt-proxy, explaining what they are, how they work, and how to compose them.

In the platform side of things, we will use Kubernetes and metallb to provide self-healing, as-code infrastructure and layer 3 failover respectively. Prior experience with Kubernetes is not required to get the most out of this session.